Jessica's Gifts Giveaway ...

A few weeks back, I was lucky enough to win a giveaway from The Making of a Runner. The prize was a gift certificate to Jessica's Gifts. I was super excited. Jessica has so many great designs, including the one that made me enter the giveaway ...

How cute is that? And perfectly fitting for me, don't you think?

Anyway, when I actually got to ordering, I couldn't choose between all of the selections. So, instead, I had Jessica make me a custom piece, combining one of my favorite phrases and of course, cupcakes. Here's how it turned out ...

Sweet, right? And since Jessica's prices are super reasonable and I intended on adding the charm to a necklace I already owned, I had enough money from my gift certificate left over to choose a piece to giveaway to one of my readers.

And this is what I chose (on an 18 inch chain) ...

I love the quote and how it is presented on the charm. So, do you want to know how to win it? Here's what you have to do.

1. Become a follower of this blog and leave me a comment to let me know.

2. Become a fan of Racing With Babes on Facebook HERE and leave a comment to let me know.

3. Visit Jessica's Gifts HERE and leave me a comment to let me know what your favorite piece is.

4. Make a purchase from Jessica's Gifts and leave a comment to let me know what you bought. Each purchase will get you five (5) entries.

5. Repost this giveaway on your blog, Facebook page, Twitter or anywhere else you can think of and leave me a comment to let me know.

Entries will be accepted until Thursday, October 7th. Winner will be selected at random and announced on Friday, October 8th. Good luck!

everything but the mud pie ...

Like I mentioned yesterday, I don't really think that any recap I can write will accurately display the amount of fun I had during my trip to Seattle. We saw the sights, ate some amazing food, had a monster bloggy meetup, put on a baby shower for the lovely Zoe, hosted a East coast versus West coast cupcake battle (yes, I carried my FAVORITE cupcakes across the US so that everyone could try them) and most importantly, built friendships. Oh, and we laughed. A lot. Like so much that I ended each day with a headache from the constant stress on my "smiling" muscles (you know the ones on the back of your head).

Now, looking back, I'm not sure that all of the funny moments would translate well into writing. I really think you needed to be there. Because of that, I decided that rather than bore you with endless details of Jill's desire to create cell phone apps and Mel's navigational skills, I would share my favorite moments via photos ...

Self photo on the U of W campus ...

Yeah, I ate that ...

That's right. I kissed a fish ...

The quad at the U of W. We were showing Kerrie our allegiance ...

Potato balls. Enough said ...

Jill eating the clear favorite cupcake. From Two Sweet, on the East Coast naturally ...

The cupcake battle aftermath ...

Playing with the self timer before the bloggy dinner ...

Mel and me looking rather happy ...

Blue Steel anyone?

Showing off the guns ...

We were shooting for a 1:52 ...

Post-race lunch with Janna and Mel ...

Mud Pie. (also known as the You Go Girl! Half Marathon Recap) ...

Disclaimer: I am in no way going to do justice to my trip to Seattle and the AMAZING time I had. It was AWESOME, SPECTACULAR and TOTALLY FUN. And my recaps (today - the race, tomorrow - the trip) can't possibly include everything I want to, unless you want to read a novel.

So, here it goes. The You Go Girl! Half Marathon Recap ...

The Expo: On Saturday, Mel, Jill, Katye and I went to the extra mini race expo. There were just a handful of vendors, but I did pick up some super cute tees from Banana Blossom Press for me and my girls. You should totally check them out.

Pre-race dinner: Bloggy Meetup at The Old Spaghetti Factory.

Pretty much everyone ordered some sort of pasta. Except me. I was so full from lunch that I ordered only dessert - MUD PIE. Mel was less than pleased with my choice of pre-race dinner. I told her it was the key to my speed.

Race Day: My SUPER AWESOME pacer Mel and I woke up to rain. Not completely unexpected for Washington, but I was kind of hoping we would get another awesome weather day like we had on Saturday. Anyway, Mel and I got ready and were picked up by the lovely Janna to head to the race.

The race plan was simple. Meet up with our team (Will Run For Ice Cream) before the race.

Then head to the very front of the pack (Mel and I are on the left side - I'm directly behind the race winner. You can really only see my socks).

And once the gun went off, we were going to run at exactly an 8:33 pace for the entire race.

Well. That was the plan anyway.

I didn't look at my Garmin the entire race. I was putting my faith in Mel. I knew she would get me to a PR. Well, 8:33 didn't really happen. Mel let me take the lead and I had fast legs. Our first mile was a 7:58. Um, yeah. I don't run that fast. At least not for 13 miles. But, I was blind to it and I am sure Mel thought she was banking us time by not slowing down (which she probably was to a certain extent).

I was feeling great in the early miles. We passed Zoe when we were around mile 2, where she snapped this picture. How great do we look?

Looking at the race elevation, we knew that miles 3-4 were a climb. We slowed slightly, but were still fine on pace. Plus we *KNEW* that the course was downhill or flat after that. We would make any lost time up. Too bad, we were wrong. The rest of the course was not flat. Yes, there were flat portions, but there were also killer hills (known as overpasses) too.

I was still feeling OK until about mile 9. I was working as hard as I could and even snapped at Mel because I thought she was going to tell me we needed to pick it up. (I was super nice about it though). Honestly, I don't remember much about the last few miles. I was having a hard time getting a deep breath in and was kind of wheezing. And my mile 12.5 all of my energy had been transferred to my legs, keeping me from being able to open my eyes. (Seriously. Mel had me throw water on my head.)

But, the course finished downhill. When we rounded the final corner and I saw the finish line, I booked it, leaving Mel. My final kick clocked in at a 5:05 pace, not really sure where that came from. I crossed the line in 1:58:02, a 3:34 PR!! (I also set an unofficial 10 mile PR by 2 minutes during the race).

And I couldn't be happier! Mel was amazingly supportive on the course (even though she was under the weather) and I finally got my sub-2 hour half. Yes, we didn't hit our "goal" time. I know I went out too fast and it crushed me at the end. But, as you can see from the smile on my face, none of that mattered.

Plus, now I have a new goal to shoot for ...

Three Things Thursday ...

1. I am currently in taper mode. I cut my weekly mileage (kind of. It's a fallback week in marathon training), added a rest day and will not run again until Sunday's You Go Girl! Half Marathon where Tall Mom will be pacing me to an a**-kicking PR.

I am so ready to run fast. I feel strong. My training has been spot on. The temperature is going to be ideal. And did I mention Tall Mom is pacing me? Seriously. It is going to happen.

2. Since Tall Mom is pacing me, we kind of need to be in the same place to make that happen. So, tomorrow morning, I am headed to Seattle for a fun-filled weekend with bunches of Seattle bloggers. The schedule appears to be jam-packed. And I'm sure I will have oodles to report when I get back on Tuesday.

3. I am not sure what I am most excited for - the trip (I've never been to Seattle and I dream of living there), the blogger meetup, the race, or 4 days away from my parenting responsibilities.

Hmm. It's close, but now that I think about it, I'm probably most excited for the last one. The past few weeks have been super hectic and I need a break. But, I am sure going to miss the crazy things my children say. Like when Dizzle asked me about skin color earlier this week:

Dizzle: "Mom, does everyone have different color skin?"

Me: "Yes. Everyone has a different amount of brown in their skin. Just look at Doodle. Her skin is much whiter than yours. But it doesn't matter what color it is, it's all just skin. Think of it this way. If one day you wear pink socks and the next day you wear white ones, they still do the same thing regardless of what color they are."

Dizzle: "Oh. OK. Well, I want chocolaty brown skin."

Me: "Dizzle, it's a little late for that now."

Doodle (who is listening in, but not very carefully): "No, Dizzle! You can't have chocolate egg skin. Chocolate eggs are only brown on the INSIDE!"

Where do they come up with this stuff?

a loser and two winners ...

LOSER: Doodle

Apparently, Doodle was attacked by a venomous insect. Because yesterday morning, I realized that her hand looked like a ping pong ball had been implanted under her skin. Total suckage. Take a look for yourself. The unaffected hand ...

And the affected hand ...

It's looking better today, but the score is definitely "Evil Bug" 1, Doodle 0.

WINNER: Dizzle

Just look at this outfit.

Enough said.

WINNER: ajh

Because although there were 405 entries in my Brooks Giveaway, random.org chose number 12, which was the lovely ajh. Congrats! Email me your contact info and I will send out your gift certificate from Brooks.

chaos ...

I don't try to hide the fact that my life is often chaotic. I am overscheduled and overworked. We tend to walk a fine line between smooth sailing and total destruction. Or at least it feels that way.

The vast majority of the time, I like my jam-packed schedule, as I am the type of person who tends to work better when there is a lot to get done. Loose deadlines are my downfall. I know this. But, even though I usually run through my daily checklists without a second thought, some days it's not that easy.

Yesterday was not that easy. It all started on Sunday night when J's car was smoking from underneath the hood. We both thought it best that he not take Dizzle to school, but head to the mechanic to get it looked at instead. So, I took Dizzle. And normally, that would be OK. But, yesterday, I had zero wiggle room. And I had already used that up.

Dizzle and I headed to school at 7:35. I dropped her off and was back at my house at 7:50, which gave me exactly 10 minutes to get Doodle and Dilly ready to leave the house for the day. I was assigned to work in Doodle's preschool yesterday, which meant we needed to be there by 8:45.

So, you are probably saying to yourself, "Well, T that gave you 45 minutes to get to preschool. Easy peasy." And that is where you would be wrong. Sure, if I left at 8:00 I would have 45 minutes to get there, but I failed to mention the fact that I had to drive Dilly to G's (my savior and training partner) house first. And G lives 15 minutes away. 15 minutes not in the direction of the preschool.

Still, leaving at 8:00 should have given me enough time. If I actually could have left at 8:00. Which I was going to. Until Doodle spilled my ENTIRE CUP OF COFFEE into the driver's seat of my car. So, I had to go back inside and get towels. And a new cup of coffee. After 10 minutes or so, we were on our way. And I made it a whole half mile before the coffee on the seat had soaked through to my pants. Fun times.

Eventually, we got to G's and I dropped off Dilly. She was happy and cheerful. For about three minutes, then apparently, G had to deal with my crying child for the next 4.5 hours. (Did I mention that she's my savior?) Anyway, Doodle and I then headed as quickly as possible (without excessively speeding) to school and we got there - one minute late.

Didn't I tell you I border on chaos at all times?

(Note: The day did slightly improve after that. Well, until we picked up Dilly. Her crying wasn't just for G. She also cried for hours on end for me. Needless to say, by 5 p.m., I had had enough of everything ...)

you wanted to know, questions 21-25

When I had my 1,000 mile giveaway, a requirement for entry was to ask me a question. Any question. And I promised to answer them in a series of posts. Here are questions 21-25 ...

Angie Bishop asked, "What do you typically eat during a day to stay fueled up for all these miles?"

Food. Lots of it. I am a big believer in keeping your calorie intake consistent from day to day. So, I try to eat about the same amount of calories each day, regardless of how far I run. For me, the happy number that keeps my weight from changing is somewhere from 2,200 - 2,800 calories (I weigh 150 pounds).

On a typical day, I eat 3 meals, 2 snacks and dessert. I almost never skip dessert. Breakfast is either two servings of cereal with skim milk or a fiber one bar and a chobani. Lunch is some sort of sandwich (PB and Banana, Turkey and Cheese, etc) and a fruit or veggie. Dinner is usually something involving black beans (burgers, burritos, chili). For dinner, we usually have vegetarian options. As a whole, we rarely eat red meat and have chicken/pork/fish/turkey about once a week.

Snacks include but are not limited to pretzels, popcorn, pita chips with hummus, veggies, fruit, cereal, Fiber One bars, and Clif Bars. And dessert - well, there are no rules about dessert.

But all joking aside, I try to eat cleanly. Simply put, food is fuel and I try to get the best I can without being obsessive about it. We don't eat very much meat. Most of my protein comes from beans and dairy sources. I don't do fried foods. I try to limit the amount of processed items. But I NEVER SAY NO to ANYTHING. Moderation is the key.

Angela asked, "Have any of your girls completed in any fun mile runs and if so, did you complete the run with them?"

Once. Dizzle ran a quarter-mile fun run when she was 3. It was so cute to watch and she started so fast that she quickly crashed. I do hope that they will all run more races in the future. But, honestly, I need to sacrifice my race schedule a little to make that happen for them. At this point though, they are consumed by ballet and soccer and have little concern for running. They all tell me that they will run when they are "older."

Pam asked, "I've seen you mention before that you don't ever stretch. a.) Why not? b.) How do you keep from getting injured?"

Um, yeah. About the stretching. It is true that I don't stretch. I just never have in the entire 25 years I have been an athlete. And if I am being frank here, I don't feel the need to stretch. Yes, it might be beneficial to some people, but not stretching does not increase your chance of injury. In fact, stretching improperly can cause injury. So, for me, I just don't see the point.

Personally, I keep from getting injured by listening to my body. If you catch the subtle signs that your body gives you, injuries can often be minimized.

Janet asked, "How do you find the motivation to stick to your running?"

When I initially started running, I found motivation by signing up for a race. I knew that I had to stick to the training because I did not want to be embarrassed on race day. It worked and over time, my pride started to give me the push I needed. I liked to be able to say that I ran a certain distance or finished in a certain time.

Once I realized that the end result was what I was seeking, my motivation became internalized. I have always been a self motivator. I just needed to figure out how to apply that to my running. Basically, I don't like to let people down, including myself. So, I set a goal and find a way to accomplish it. It's a system that works for me, but I'm sure it wouldn't work for everyone.

destinationathlete asked, "What's next? I mean, now that you've hit 1000 miles (which I believe was your goal for the year), what are you going to aim for next?"

The sky's the limit, right? Mileage wise, I will be happy with whatever I finish the year with. I have already hit my goal and now I am just looking to set a mark to beat next year. On the racing front, I am hoping to set PRs in the 8K, the half marathon and the marathon, by the end of the year. I'm feeling strong and I believe that I can do that.